SNFA publishes the first guide dedicated to the acoustics of aluminum frame curtain facades

The purpose of this guide is to support all construction stakeholders such as project managers, architects, design offices, companies, in order to best guide the technical choices in the design phase, to fully understand the technical solutions proposed by the companies and finally to follow the realization during the construction phase.

It concerns curtain and semi-curtain facades, in accordance with the scope of the NF DTU 33.1 standard, and is a practical tool for professionals in the construction of tertiary buildings: offices, hospitals, educational establishments, hotel residences or students.

A practical reference guide

In order to achieve a work that is intended to be educational and recognized by all stakeholders, the SNFA worked with its members, then consulted several acoustics experts from design offices, control offices and laboratories.

This guide contains essential information with many diagrams and examples making accessible the acoustic issues, often poorly understood and neglected.

The principles of building acoustics are presented, as well as the texts setting regulatory, normative and building certification acoustic requirements. It is also explained how the light facade contributes to the reduction of exterior noise, as well as to the limitation of interior noise between premises. Finally, simplified design rules with orders of magnitude make it possible to better understand the means to be implemented.

The guide explains in particular that the isolation of exterior noise comes mainly from the performance of the glazing, the openings and the number of skins on the facade (single or double skins).

For insulation against interior noise, it is rather the framework of the facade that contributes to the insulation between adjoining offices or between floors. To deal with this problem, the choice of the nature of the facade, grid or frame, is essential. For example, the frame facade, made up of more or less separated prefabricated elements, achieves the highest sound insulation performance.

Finally, the guide shows the extent of the acoustic improvements of the mullions that can be carried out in the factory, such as the insertion of mineral or vegetable wool, steel sheets, plasterboard or even visco-elastic materials. The junctions with the walls and the floors constitute the weak points from the point of view of the sound insulation between rooms and solutions are presented by means of several examples.

The guide is freely accessible on https://www.fenetrealu.com/publications